Maka's Solo Job
by StarCrusader
Summary: Maka, mad at Soul, decides to take a job on her own. But what happens when the job is more than what she can handle?


"Soul, just LEAVE ME ALONE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The wind swept my pigtails behind my head. The setting sun cast dancing shadows upon Death City. I turned around and ran away from my partner, who was yelling some vulgar things at my back. He can be an idiot at times. I mean, who would leave their own partner for a week, not telling them where they went, just to go on some stupid hunt for a lost city of gold? Apparently, Soul and Black*Star would. I'm so mad, I don't think I'll be able to look at Soul for a few days. I was so worried!

I ran all the way home and into my room. Blair kept trying to get me to come out, but I refused. Then, I had an idea. Tomorrow, I'll take a solo mission; without telling Soul. Just to give him a little taste of what I went through. I'll take an easy one, so he won't be as mad.

I quickly took a shower and got dressed in my pajamas. Soul was on the couch watching T.V. He didn't even glance in my direction, but that's okay. I pulled Blair into the kitchen and quietly told her that I was going on a solo mission tomorrow. When I told her not to tell Soul, she gave me a confused look, but nodded. It was one of those times where she knew not to ask questions. We said goodnight to each other, and I went to bed.

On the train ride to Klyto, I began pondering my quest. I was supposed to steal a locket from a kishin. It belonged to a woman in the Klyto, and she wanted it back A.S.A.P., for it had been her late grandmothers'. It seemed too easy. It was a golden locket in the shape of a heart. It had roses etched into it. This was going o be sooo easy!

I ran through the city, luring the kishin towards the forest. I didn't want people to get hurt. The kishin was spider-like, with blades for legs. It had already cut me up pretty badly. It wasn't as easy as I thought, but I wasn't going down without a fight!

The bare trees filtered the moonlight through their branches. Some of the lower branches reached down like bony fingers, trying to scratch up my face. When I was deep enough, I turned and faced the kishin. Its face was grey, with sunken eyes that looked at me with pure hatred. It wanted to rip me apart; to make my insides become my outsides. I've never felt something that oozed pure hatred such as this.

One of its razor-legs arced down towards me. I side-stepped and jumped up onto its back. It tried to stab me again, but I jumped off its back. The kishins' arm went right through its own body and poked out the other side. It roared in pain as it dissolved into smoke, leaving behind a glowing red orb. Being part weapon, I went ahead and ate the soul. It didn't really have a taste. It just had a weird texture.

I made my way back to the village, locket in hand. It was really pretty. When I arrived to the house, the door opened immediately, revealing a woman in her 70's. She brought me inside and began tending my wounds. When I handed her the locket, she smiled and gently took it from my hands. She brought me to a chair, which set next to a cozy little fire. She poured me some ginger tea and lit a vanilla candle.

The house was so comfy and warm, I really wanted to fall asleep. The lady began talking about the history of the locket.

"It belonged to my grandmother. She treasured it. She wanted me to have it. She said it was used to make the Floral Witch, Flora, young and beautiful. Every century, she'd take a young, pretty girl as her sacrifice, and use her blood to soak the locket in. It's pretty gruesome, if you ask me. The blood would make the locket glow red, and Flora had to drink blood from the sacrifice. Afterwards, she'd sing a song. I don't remember the words, but it was quite creepy. Are you okay, dear? You look tired."

My eyes were lidded, and my breathing was slowing down. My head felt light, and I was losing consciousness.

"I'm sorry." I muttered. "I'm a bit tired."

"Good. Then my incense seems to work. And you idiotically drank a tea that had sleeping pills in it!"

I warily looked over at the woman. She was smiling from ear to ear, and had an evil glint in her eyes. How could I have been so stupid..? My eyes finally closed and rolled back up into my skull. The teacup I'd been holding fell from my hand and clattered to the ground. Then, darkness overcame my body.

When I woke up, I was in a room of mirrors. There were tall ones, short ones, round ones, and square ones. Not hesitating a moment more, Maka called Lord Death on a tall, ovular mirror.

"42-42-564 whenever you want to knock on Death's door."

Almost instantly, Death's face filled up the mirror.

"Ah, Maka-chan! How's the job goin'?" he asked cheerfully.

"I need backup! There's more to this mission than we originally thought!" I said quickly, hoping the seriousness of my tone reached him. It worked. He looked confused and no longer comedic.

"What do you mean, Maka-chan? I thought you were supposed to get a locket for an elder woman?"

"She's Flora, the witch of flowers. She said she uses the locket to make her younger. She does this by killing and draining out a young girl." I kept glancing around, hoping that Flora wouldn't hear me. Death seemed angry now.

"Where are you, Maka-chan?"

"I... I don't know. She drugged me and I woke up here."

"What about your surroundings? Anything that could give a hint as to where you're located?"

I thought for a moment.

"It's hot. And I'm standing on black soil..." I said. Then, realization hit me. "A volcano."

Death looked like he was thinking hard about something. Then, a loud ruckus sounded in the background.

"Maka~!"

_Oh no. _

Spirit came into the room like a giddy schoolboy. He had a dopey grin plastered on his face, bright stars in his eyes.

"Maka! My darling little Maka! How's the job? Do you miss daddy? When are yo-"

"DEATH CHOP!"

Spirit crumpled to the ground with a large red welt on his head. I nodded my head towards Death in thanks. He just grunted.

"Spirit, knock it off! Your daughter is in trouble!" Death yelled at Spirit. Spirit turned serious, asking where I was.

"A volcano." I said, making my father even more angry.

"Hey, Death! Have you seen Maka? I can't seem to find her." Said a familiar voice.

_Great. _Just _who I wanted to talk to._

"Soul, come over here for a moment." Death replied.

When Soul saw me, his expression totally changed. He kind of looked... _worried. _

"Maka! Where are you?"

Then I explained everything about the job, Flora, and the volcano.

"Idiot! Why would you go off all by yourself?! It's my job to protect you!" He shouted at me.

"Well, I guess now you know how _I _feel, Soul!"

He didn't say anything after that. Instead, he looked hurt, like I had just punched him in the face.

"Ah, my pretty! It seems you've created an audience!" A voice cackled from behind me. I whipped around and saw Flora walking towards me.

"If you want the girl to live, you won't end this call." She threatened. Flowers popped up all around me. They had really thick, thorny vines. Before I could react, the vines wrapped themselves around my body. The held fast to my waist, neck, wrists, and ankles. The thorns pierced my skin, causing me to cry out in pain. Crimson blood dripped from my wounds.

"Maka!" Soul shouted, but he couldn't do anything. His partner was in pain and he couldn't do anything about it.

More vines wrapped around my body, thorns piercing my skin, causing blood to stream out of my wounds. It was like being stabbed my a hundred little knives. _Knives... _That gave me an idea. I unleashed my knives, cutting off the vines. I glared at Flora, who just began to cackle.

"Those vines had insanity in them! Ahahaha! Now you'll go crazy, tearing yourself apart, right in front of your friends!" She cackled.

I could feel a dark power erupt from inside of me. Voices whispered in my head, too many to understand. My body felt as if it had too much energy, and that it needed to be released. My head felt like it was going to burst. My knives retreated and my hands shot up to my ears. I heard a loud buzzing noise. I realized it was me screaming. Crumpling to the floor, darkness began to overtake my vision. My last sight was Soul screaming and banging against the mirror, tears in his eyes. There wasn't only tears, though. There was a flicker of hatred. i whispered his name, reaching out my hand as if to grab his, but our hands never met. My eyes closed, hand falling to the ground, darkness encasing me entirely.

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up. My entire body ached. I was sitting in the middle of a large platform. There were no walls. Fully standing up, I could see that the ground was black and red plaid. Across the room was a mirror. When I walked over to it and peered at it, there was a stranger looking back. I mean, it was _me _but I looked totally different. My hair was curly and in a high ponytail. I was wearing a short, silky black dress which seemed to flow like water at the end when I walked. The sleeves cut off at my elbow, and they seemed to flow, too. I was wearing black shoes that had a little heel. They actually felt somewhat comfy.

I turned and saw a fireplace with a comfy chair by it. Drawn by the warmth, I walked over to the chair. I didn't know what this place was, or what I was doing before I got here, but I was tired. I wanted to take a nap, so I sat down in the chair, the soft cushions and crackle of the fire began to lure me to sleep. My eyes were shutting when footsteps sounded from behind me. Sensing a shadow fall over me, my eyelids opened. Soul was standing in front of me. He panted as he grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet.

"S-Soul?" I murmured as he hugged me tightly.

"Maka... I'm sorry. I never should have left you. If I didn't, you would be safe. I couldn't protect you... I'm so sorry..."

I softly pushed Soul away, looking into his eyes. "It's okay, Soul. But, where are we? And why are we dressed weird?"

Soul was wearing a black suit with black suede shoes. He had on a red bow tie, too.

"We're in your 'soul room'. Everyone has one. Even I do. you know the place with the piano? It's the same thing here." He replied. "Maka, we need to go."

Nodding, I got up and followed him. We walked over to a large door, which emanated an evil aura. Stopping dead in my tracks, I yanked my hand away from him. I recognized this door. Soul's 'soul room' had one just like it. It dragged a person through insanity, consuming them whole. It almost happened to Soul once, but I saved him just in time.

Soul turned and studied me, concerned. "What's wrong, Maka?"

"You aren't Soul."

"What are you saying? Of course I am!" He started getting defensive.

"I know what's behind that door." I said, knitting my eyebrows together. "And it's not the way out."

Soul smirked, then lunged at me. "I _will _take you beyond this door, Maka. And you'll be completely insane!"

Dodging, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I knew why I was here, and I knew what I had to do when I got out. My body began to glow, and Soul became aggravated that I was leaving. I opened my eyes and saw him desperately try to grab me. But it was too late, for my body was dissipating. I smirked, and shot up into the air.

I awoke with Flora pointing a knife at my heart. On instinct, my blades emerged from my body, cutting her. She jumped back, blood dripping from her face. She looked much older now. In fact, she was still aging. Her face was wrinkly, and she was all bony. She lunged at me, knife pointed for my heart. I was held down by vines, and couldn't move. She was actually going to stab me!

I closed my eyes, waiting for the knife to stab me, ending my life. But, the piercing of the knife never came. My eyes opened, and I saw Soul pushing Flora away from me. The vines unwrapped from my body, and I ran next to Soul. He transformed, and i grabbed his handle.

"Thank you, Soul." I said, running towards Flora. She couldn't get up, she was too old. I sliced her in half, and she shrieked. Her soul glowed a brilliant purple.

"Let's go home." I said as Soul reverted back to normal, eating Flora's soul.

"Yeah." He agreed.

The entire way back home, I fell asleep on Soul's shoulder. We didn't say anything about what had just happened with Flora. And we never did. Once we were home, we told Death everything that had happened. Afterwards, Soul and I went home, arguing who's turn it was to make dinner. Things were finally back to normal. And the locket? It was destroyed along with Flora.


End file.
